Concern grows for stranded whale
Rescuers are growing increasingly concerned for the safety of a seven-tonne whale, stranded in the River Thames in central London.
Riverside crowds gathered throughout the day to watch the 16-18ft (5m) northern bottle-nosed whale swim as far upstream as Albert Bridge by Chelsea.
Experts fear it may become beached when the tide changes, or could be put down overnight to prevent further suffering.
Specialist equipment was being used to try to redirect the animal downstream.
The whale, usually found in deep sea waters, has come within yards of the banks and has crashed into an empty boat causing slight bleeding.
Since darkness fell, the whale’s location has become unclear with some reports suggesting it may have made some progress downstream.
“The last thing we want to do is stress the animal out”
Liz Sandeman
Marine ConnectionVets are remaining on standby and experts have said it does not appear to be ill, but are concerned it will get weaker and may become beached.
Tony Woodley, of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue, which is handling the rescue, said the animal’s welfare was the main priority.
He said if attempts to re-direct the whale downstream failed, it might be necessary to put it down to prevent it from suffering further.
‘Breathing normally’
The RNLI say it is the first whale rescue on the Thames. A spokesman said three whales were spotted east of the Thames Barrier on Thursday but only one managed to get upstream.
But at 0830 GMT on Friday, a man on a train called in to say he might have been hallucinating, but he had just seen a whale in the Thames.
Alison Shaw of the Marine and Freshwater Conservation Programme at London Zoo, said the northern bottle-nosed whale was usually found in groups of three to 10.
She told the BBC News website: “This is extremely rare in British waters as they are normally found in deep waters in the North Atlantic.
“It is about 16-18ft long, so is relatively mature. It is a very long way from home and we don’t know why it has ended up here.”
‘Plans to rescue the whale’
The whales usually weigh about seven tonnes, which will complicate any rescue attempt, experts said.
London Aquarium Curator Paul Hale told the BBC: “Getting that to do anything it doesn’t want to do is going to be extremely difficult.
“This is a very active swimming animal and it’s not going to go anywhere it doesn’t want to go so we have to persuade it to swim back out.”
Liz Sandeman, a medic of the Marine Connection, a whale and dolphin protection charity, accompanied the RNLI to examine the animal.
She feared it might be in danger from other boats, or be frightened by the noise.
“The last thing we want to do is stress the animal out,” she said.
Over the years dolphins and seals have been spotted in the Thames.
Sperm whales have been seen in the Thames Estuary and porpoises have feasted on fish near Vauxhall Bridge, in central London.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4631396.stm
A very surreal situation, but quite touching to see emergency services (Not exactly fire or ambulance) trying there best to help this magnificent creature.
Still I find it ironic that all these news crews are voicing their concern for the situation but all these boats and low flying loud helicopters are not making the whale feel any better.
By: whalebone - 27th January 2006 at 20:01
Rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated :diablo:
By: Manston Airport - 25th January 2006 at 15:28
They found out why the Whale died full report here:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4645726.stm
and I just gave the British Divers Marine Life Rescue £20 and the RNLI £20
From now on I am going to give more money to animal trust.
James
By: steve rowell - 24th January 2006 at 09:55
man u beat me there mate i was gonna post that lol the poor thing couldn’t they just get a chinook to carry it out to see
To see what??????
By: Mark L - 23rd January 2006 at 16:04
Lots of good causes were involved in the rescue, might be nice if people could list them here so people can maybe make donations?
I’ve just given a tenner to the British Divers Marine Life Rescue:
http://www.bdmlr.org.uk/pages/main.html
Also the RNLI of course played their part:
By: Manston Airport - 23rd January 2006 at 15:53
A Ministry of Defence (MoD) testing site may have contributed to the death of a whale which found its way into the River Thames, an MP has suggested.
Full report here:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4639108.stm
Rescue charity workers who battled in vain to save the poor whale found swimming up the River Thames are now facing a bill of more than £300 in parking fines.
Full report here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/4638790.stm
Ban Whaling
James 🙁
By: Comet - 23rd January 2006 at 11:02
The best thing to do with whales in this situation is leave them. Very often when whales go off course, or beach, they die despite the best efforts of people to prevent this. And the stress caused to the whale by hoisting it up like they did must be extreme.
The best thing and the kindest thing would have been to let the whale either find its own way back to the sea, or die naturally.
By: Manston Airport - 22nd January 2006 at 23:56
And lest we forget, there’s plenty more fish in the sea…
There wont be if us humans carry on destroying the oceans and hunting 🙁
James
By: Future Pilot - 22nd January 2006 at 20:34
Well done to the rescuers, they deserve a thankyou for their efforts. Rescuing whales is a very difficult task
Well said, this really captured the public’s imagination. Everyone wanted it to get back out there, sadley it just doesn’t happen that way all the time….
By: murph - 22nd January 2006 at 18:26
whales are in fact….
RIP Whale!
By: Ren Frew - 22nd January 2006 at 02:44
And lest we forget, there’s plenty more fish in the sea…
By: duxfordhawk - 22nd January 2006 at 00:07
Such a shame it died, But maybe its death is not in vain as we are all thinking about Whale’s and there plight at the moment, I brief moment maybe, But how often can you say Londoner’s get to thinking about nature while going about their daily lives?
I hope this will be the last whale to get trapped in the Thames this way, And really pray this is not a sign of some impending threat to the species.
The rescuers did the best they could it was against the odds and nearly worked.
All in all a sad day, But at least a day that Humans thought about another creature instead of ourselves.
By: Manston Airport - 21st January 2006 at 22:31
Tragically the whale died earlier today at 1900
🙁 🙁 That is very sad news hope a whale never gets stuck up the Thames again.
And after seeing the events in the Thames has made me think more about whaling and that I hope that whaling gets banned http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3701805.stm 😡
and this is just sick what the japs do to dolphins http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=200997&in_page_id=1770
Make me wanna drop a nuke back on them 😡
James 🙁
By: A330-300 - 21st January 2006 at 20:22
That’s quite unfortunate. 🙁
By: jbritchford - 21st January 2006 at 20:21
Well done to the rescuers, they deserve a thankyou for their efforts. Rescuing whales is a very difficult task, and this was always the most likely outcome. Oh well…
By: Snaps - 21st January 2006 at 19:50
I feel sorry for the whale, but also for everyone that tried to save it. The media are saying its a failed rescue attempt, but they tried their best and sadly it died. Maybe its just my interpretation of the wording but they deserve a pat on the back for their efforts.
By: wozza - 21st January 2006 at 19:25
Tragically the whale died earlier today at 1900
By: wozza - 21st January 2006 at 18:43
The magic 700 post!!!
Some of you people need to take a reality check, some of you sicken me, a poor whale is stuck on a barge, condition detiriorating, near death just waiting to be put down by the vet and all you lot can do is think of poor-puns to laugh at at the whales expense,
my prayers are with the whale
By: murph - 21st January 2006 at 18:36
And i live in it 😀
yes well, if you want escape routes pointed out to you …
By: bmi-star - 21st January 2006 at 13:16
…and I mean I was born in the country!
And i live in it 😀
By: Grey Area - 21st January 2006 at 13:04
[QUOTE=[jbritchford]Save the whales!!!![/QUOTE]Few banks and building societies will accept them.
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January 20, 2006 at 6:39 pm